Every spring, for about a week or two, we get ants in the house. They wake up because it’s spring, but don’t quite find enough food outside yet, so they come in to look for more. As soon as the ground comes to life with whatever they eat, they leave our kitchen alone again.

During that week or two, though, they can be quite annoying. We have to make sure to not leave any overripe fruit in the fruit bowl, and to keep the food compost inaccessible.

I’m pretty inured to the ants and just squish them when I find them and flush them down the drain. The kids both find the ants kind of disgusting, and complain a bit. And then one of them leaves half an apple on the kitchen counter, and is surprised when there are more ants the next morning. It’s like they sometimes just turn off their logical thinking abilities.

The pink shoots of bleeding hearts.

It’s the best time of the year.

Crocuses peeking out through snow.

The grassier parts of the lawn are muddy and brown, but the mossy patches are fluffy and green all year round. Moss in lawn is, like, the best thing.

Actual sunlight hit a few small, thumb-sized spots in the garden today.

I gave Eric and myself – but mostly Eric – a set of flannel bedsheets for Christmas. I wear a long sleeve top to bed in winter, Eric doesn’t, so he is more exposed to the bedding.

I was surprised at how much warmer these felt than ordinary cotton. I expected some difference, of course, that was the whole point, but was still wowed. Going to bed no longer involves steeling myself to that initial feeling of a cold bed.

On the minus side, there is the lint. So much dark red lint everywhere in the bedroom. On the bottom sheet, on the carpet, on the floor, on my bed socks, on clothes that just happen to be in the vicinity. Worth it, though.

Today an electrician did the last bit of work on our new heat pump and it is now fully operational. It is more discreet in both looks and noise level than I had expected, and it’s doing a great job at heating up the rooms.

It comes with an app – of course – in addition to the remote control. You can tweak the settings, set up a schedule for it, and, most interestingly, monitor its energy consumption. The numbers are incredibly low for the heat it outputs and I would almost question their truthfulness if I didn’t see our overall electricity consumption also take a steep dive, in the other app.

The snow is melting away. We had a white December, but will have bare ground for Christmas.

Today was a boring day and I didn’t take any photos, so here is one from after the snowstorm in November. Nysse needs and wants to be outside, but really doesn’t like deep snow. So when there is a lot of snow, I clear the deck for him, and the stairs from the deck to the street. When I’m done shovelling, I make paths for him in the garden. I make small loop to the tree, a larger one beyond that, and a fork to the left to the big rock underneath the thuja, where he likes to curl up and lurk.

I call them his catwalks. Naturally.

On the one hand, it’s 15°C in the living room.

On the other hand, we’re paying around 500 SEK per day (that’s 50 EUR for you Europeans) for electricity right now. Heating more would cost even more.

So I guess I’ll just get another blanket.

18°C used to be the point where I would turn up the radiators. With these prices – and with the visibility we have from our new electricity contract – I’ve had to learn to frame things differently. Heating is something you do at night when prices are lower. During the day you just dress warmly. Three layers of clothes is normal. At least two of the layers should be wool-based, preferably.

Which is why I’ve ordered more warm woollen sweaters and undershirts. Buying second hand, I could literally get a sweater or two every week with the money I’m not paying for more heating. And then at least I get a sweater out of the deal, instead of feeling like I’m just burning money.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll also be getting a heat exchanger installed. Which will unfortunately cost quite a bit more than a few sweaters, but on the other hand will do more to keep us all warm for longer. I’m counting down the days.

In the meantime, the next ten days will be the worst in sight. The weather will be really cold; Sweden’s largest nuclear power plant will be undergoing emergency maintenance; hydropower plants will be running at reduced capacity to let ice form on the rivers; wind power will be limited because it’s less windy than usual.